Unexpected Family
by deanangst
Summary: The Team is forced to care for Eliot when he his unexpedtly De-aged and rejected my his family. The bAckstory is being reworked and will be added later.


Rocky The Horse

Part of an A/U verse that I'm kicking around in my head. Eliot has been deaged and is in the teams care.

Disclaimer: I own nothing no harm intended, just showing my love of the characters.

The Apartment was cozy and warm. The heat was turned up to combat the high ceilings and drafts in the renovated loft apartment. A nine foot Christmas tree sat fully decorated against the side wall near the spiral staircase. Brightly colored packages were perfectly positioned underneath its branches, as thousands of multicolored lights twinkled in the dimming evening glow. An electric fireplace crackled nearby, 5 stockings hanging from its mantle just waiting to be filled by Santa. A large rug had been added once they discovered Eliot's fondness for laying on the floor, watching both the tree and flickering flames of the false fireplace.

Nate split his attention between the football game on television and the little boy lying on the floor.

Sophie had gone out on a mission, taking Parker and Alec along as backup. Nate had no doubt that the pile of gifts under the tree would be larger by morning.

They were all getting something out of this current situation. Sophie, well Eliot was filling a void in her life she had never really understood she was missing. She was, for all intents and purposes now his mom. She loved, protected, fed, clothed, and taught Eliot with an unselfishness that Nate remembered from Maggie. It wasn't until he found Sophie standing in the laundry room crying while holding a tiny pair of transformer under-roos that Nate was sure she was fully committed to taking on the mantel of Mom.

Parker was changing too. She was thriving if you wanted to know the truth. It was as if Eliot's childish innocence was allowing her to focus and understand her own emotions and feelings. She didn't have to worry about motives. If Eliot hugged her, or climbed up into her lap it was simply because he needed to be close to her, nothing more.

Alec, to say that he was annoyed in the beginning, would be a huge understatement. It seemed every step he took Eliot was right behind him, always trying to get his attention. Once Nate explained that Alec was now the big brother, everything changed. Alec had been late coming in the next day. Plastic computer bag in one hand and computer CPU box under his other arm. He wasn't even that upset when Eliot seemed more inclined to play with the box and foam packing peanuts than the computer and toddler learning software. Now the two spent quality time watching cartoons, play wrestling, and playing computer games. If Alec had any regrets about the hours he spent playing reader rabbit and Blues Clues instead of WOW he never said a word.

Nate too gained something that just could not be translated into words. When Sophie had asked, all he could say was that it was easier to breathe. The slight tilt of her head and tiny nod told Nate she understood. Blinking away his thoughts Nate turned his attention back on the little boy.

Eliot was stretched out on his stomach, his attention fully focused on the Christmas toy catalog before him. It was the same thing every night, Eliot would spend hours looking at the different toys but so far he hadn't made a request for a single item. Every trip, to the different store Santa's, had been met with the same results. It seemed that Eliot really..really just wanted a hot dog for Christmas.

Nate smiled to himself, thankful at least that Eliot wasn't one of those kids that screamed in fear every time he saw the man dressed in red. After all he was sure old Santa had heard some strange requests in his time and was more than likely just happy to have a dry lap at the end of the visit.

Setting his cup of coffee on the end table Nate moved from the couch to the floor next to the small boy. The creaking of his knees reminding him that he wasn't a kid anymore.

"Hey squirt, finding anything good."

"Yeah me did." Eliot replied, smiling up at Nate before turning his attention back to the brightly colored book.

"That's good, can you show me what you found?"

"Yep." Eliot sat up and maneuvered himself into Nate lap. Turning the crinkled pages back Eliot pointed to the Star Wars action figures. " 'Da like Awec's see him, Ha' Sowo, and Pwincessss Weia and dat's Wookie Chewie."

"Wow! That's cool." Nate answered, looking at the chuncky action figures made for little fingers.

"Yep." Eliot nodded as he turned the page and pointed to the Knights Play set. "Wook da got swords and da sway de dwagons."

They spent an hour looking thru the book before Nate asked , "So what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?"

Eliot looked at Nate, little eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "Santa's gonna bring me a hot dog"

Nate struggled not to laugh as he hugged the boy close. "Well baby, Santa can bring you more just one thing."

"Ketsup?"

Nate laughed then. Squeezing the boy in his lap.

"Something you can't eat"

"Gween peas?" Eliot wrinkled his nose, and stuck his tongue out.

"Oh someone is being silly."

"No I not... you can't eat dem, da yucky" Eliot said with wide eyes.

Nate Blinked, you really couldn't argue with that so he turned to topic back to toys. " Okay, if you could have anything in the whole world what would it be." he asked. "Any toy Eliot..."

Eliot looked from the book to Nate, as if to judge the older man's sincerity. Looking down little fingers played with the pages of the book.

"Wocky de horse." Eliot whispered.

Nate struggled to make out what Eliot said, the softly spoken words made the already hard job of deciphering Eliot's southern/toddler speak impossible. Placing his finger under Eliot's chin, Nate tipped the little face up until their eye's met. "What was that Eliot? I couldn't hear you."

"I want wocky the howse. Wike Mr. Thomas has at da store."

It took a minute for Nate to remember the handmade wooden spring horse. Similar to a rocking horse but this one was set in a frame with springs, designed to bounce and buck. Nate remember how Eliot had to reach up on tip toe to pet the wooden horse's face. He remembered how Eliot had circled it in the store, eyes full of wonder and longing. What Nate remembered most was that the horse itself was taller than Eliot, clearly it had been build with a older and much larger child in mind.

"Well, lets see if they have a horse in here" Nate said flipping thru the book and stopping at the rocking horses. "Look, here's one." Nate pointed out the smaller plastic and plush rocking horses.

Eliot shook his head, "Nooo. 'dose are for babies.. I not a baby. I'm a big boy."

Nate fought hard not to laugh, they were still in debate reguarding Eliot's current physical and mental age. It seemed that physically Eliot had regressed further than he had mentally. When he was awake and alert he was as bright and quick as many of the pre-k kids that Nate had met, but let him get a little tired and Eliot was as stumbly and uncoordinated as new born colt. Either Eliot was a very smart two year old or an extremely small for his age three year old, no one could tell. Heck, truth be told Eliot was small for a two year old. At least smaller than Sam had been, which made the prospect of the little boy on that horse even more scary.

Nate hugged the little body tighter, and smiled. "Yes, you are a big boy, but Rocky is a really big horse."

Nate felt the slight drop in Eliot's shoulders, and heard a tiny sigh before Eliot turned and gave Nate a smile. " 'Dat's okay I wike the knights wif de swords and da dwagons." Rustling thru the pages Eliot returned to the action figures and began chattering away about the Knights adventures, but Nate's mind stayed on the horse, he was sure Eliot's did too.

LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE

Nate crept down the spiral staircase around 2am, not at all surprised to find Alec fast at work on his computer. Ignoring the hacker for the moment he slipped into the little room beside Alec's screens. For a short time they had used it as a supply room of sorts. Each person with their own rack for clothing and misc. items they may need on a job. Now it was Eliot's room. A twin sized bed sat against one wall and a crib against the other. The bed was clearly meant for someone older, sitting higher off the ground than a normal twin bed to allow room for the under the bed drawers. Sophie had picked it out and had it delivered without asking Nates opinion. It was a beautiful piece, in a deep cherry finish but not very practical. Something Sophie had quickly discovered when Eliot had fallen out of bed the first night and the team had spent hours in the emergency room while Eliot got stitches.

For now Eliot was sleeping in a crib. Nate leaned over the rail and resettled the blanket that had been kicked off in sleep. Shaking his head he moved the pillow from the head of the crib to the foot. For someone so still as an adult Eliot was a constant ball of motion as a toddler, even in sleep. Nate was never sure how he managed to turn himself completely around at night, he knew that the little boy was big enough to move to a toddler bed, but there were just too many times he'd come into the room to find the boy sleeping against the rails. He couldn't stomach the thought of Eliot falling again, not if there was some way he could prevent him from getting hurt.

Once he was sure Eliot was sleeping safely Nate headed back out to the living room where he did a double take at the images on the screens. "Alec? What's all this?"

Alec jumped slightly at Nate's voice. " Oh hey, I'm just working on a little something. Incase..you know if anyone started looking..it'd be weird if there wasn't anything around." Alec shrugged and went back to his work.

Nate stood silently looking at the images as they were changed and enhanced. Sophie sitting on the couch with Eliot asleep in her arms had fast become one of Nate's favorite things to watch. It was amazing to see it now, in black and white. The lack of color seeming to add honesty to the photo, your eyes no longer distracted, now focusing on the faces and emotion. The image changed to one of Parker pushing Eliot on the swings at the park, cheeks flushed pink from the cold air. Then there was the picture of Eliot 'pinning' Alec to the floor, laying on the man's chest tiny hands holding Alec's shoulders down. It was the devious little grin on Eliot's face that made the picture. Then the image changed again, to one of Eliot sitting in Nate's arms, eyes wide and focused on the pages of the story book that Nate was reading from.

"Those are nice." Nate nodded.

"I got a ton of 'em. I got one of those digital frames for Sophie, and a scrapbook kit for Parker you know cause she's all into the drawing and stuff. Though they'd be a good Christmas gifts."

"I'm sure they will love them." Nate nodded in approval and watched as a few more images passed by before speaking again. "Hey Alec, are you free tomorrow well today, later?"

"Sure, we got a case or something, 'cause I remember you telling Sophie that we are laying low until after the holidays and if you've changed your mind I ain't helping you tell her."

"No nothing like that, I just need to pick up something for Eliot, if it's still there, and I'm gonna need a place to hide it."

LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE

Sophie stood at the stove, fork in one hand as she rolled the hotdogs floating in the boiling water. She couldn't help but shake her head in amusement at the other members of her team. For a group of people so adept at thievery and planning the simple act of placing presets under a tree, quietly, seemed to be beyond their capability. It was a blessing that Eliot was such a deep sleeper. Between the sound of rattling plastic bags coming from Parker, and the grunts and groans from Alec and Nate as they moved the monster horse into the apartment she was expecting a complaint from the grump next door.

By 7:00am, the adult members of the team were settled onto the couch and chairs sipping coffee. Nate looked at his watch for the hundredth time and just couldn't take it anymore so he headed into the little room to 'see' if Eliot was awake. They watched with a smile as Nate walked from the bedroom to the bathroom, Eliot's head resting on Nate's shoulder, little blue eyes struggling to stay open. Ten minutes later a somewhat sleep drunk Eliot wondered into the room, little fist rubbing at his right eye. Climbing up onto the sofa Eliot got comfortable in Sophie's lap and wiggled his fingers at her coffee cup. Knowing she was at the end of her cup and what was left inside was mostly cream and sugar, Sophie relented and tilted the cup up to let him have a drink. The whole team laughing at the smacking going on when the boy licked his lips.

Breakfast that morning was courtesy of Santa, a feast of hotdogs, tater tots, and ketsup. Eliot was overwhelmed by the number of toys under the tree. The knights joined in the Rebel alliance's fight to take down Darth Vader. A wooden block castle was built, Tonka trucks were busy hauling loads across the hardwood floor. Each toy was thoroughly played with before the next item was opened. A large pile of toddler clothing was discarded in a pile to the side, those items more for Sophie's enjoyment than Eliot's. When the last present was opened, and Alec and Parker were busy destroying the wooden block fort Nate led Eliot to landing by the window where the kitchen table normally sat. A large blob, covered in a plaid flannel sheet, was now waiting there.

Tugging off the covering Nate watched as Eliot's eyes grew impossible wide, and his little body started shivering in excitement. "Nate…Nate…it's wocky." Eliot was bouncing now, suddenly scrambling forward in the attempt to climb up onto the wooden frame. Nate caught the boy under the arms and placed him into the saddle. Eliot never complained, if he even noticed, about the additions of a safety harness as Nate buckled him in, or the added padding on the rails and spring covers. Tiny fingers gripped the reins and Eliot quickly had the horse in motion, the room filling with squeals of laughter and the thumping of the horse.

Nate felt Sophie slide her arm thru his as she placed her head on his shoulder. "I think he likes it." She whispered, Nate smiled, his eyes never leaving the scene before him.

Leverage Leverage Leverage

Later that night Nate made his way down the spiral stair case, on his way to check up on Eliot. The ritual more for his own peace of mind than any true worry that something was wrong. The only light in the room came from the Christmas tree. Stumbling over a block Nate bumped into the end table. The vibration enough to set off the optical mouse and wake the CPU. The wall of screens came to life, frozen on one of the many photos taken of the day's activities. Nate didn't remember a flash going off so he guessed it was a screen cap from the video that Hardison had set to record all day. Nate and Sophie were facing away from the camera, holding hands, as they watched Eliot on Rocky. Reaching over Nate wiggled the mouse again until the images started moving, his smile growing as each one passed. Somewhere in his mind he believed that he didn't deserve the gift that he had been given, but he was going to cherish each second now and fight any one that tried to take it away.


End file.
